Too Late
by Moonlight Bomber
Summary: Four gentlemen have failed their respective significant others, and are tasting their bad endings. Games featured: Final Fantasy VII, Suikoden V, Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology, and Mana Khemia.


Our hubris... led us to more than just failure.

We four have lost our loves... and are willing to pay the price as the only redemption.

* * *

I am Cloud, SOLDIER First Class.

The warning signals were all too clear.

What she was about to embark alone... would be her death knell.

She promised to come back when it's all over. And she didn't.

To make matters worse, her virginity was defiled before the sword ran through her.

I've done everything I can to prepare for this.

But still... why wasn't I able to save her?

No one but the Goddess knows.

A loss is a loss.

I feel so guilty. I feel so powerless. I'm just a burden to them now.

And so...

I choose a colorful death over a colorless life. That is my punishment for being too guilty of everything.

No amount of convincing from my friends... and even him... will save me.

My reality is mine alone.

The only reality left for me is... to be with her... to the Promised Land she had sought for so long, and found.

Farewell...

* * *

I am Freyjadour, the Prince of Falena.

My army stopped the conflict involving the Sun Rune, with me being its leader and luminary.

With burning fervor... I've gone through hell and back to attain such victory.

But despite everything I've done... my bodyguard, my confidante, my best friend... perished before my very eyes.

I did my best... but my best just wasn't good enough for the Runes.

She and I were more than just destined... we chose to converge paths ourselves.

Now... she was on her home stretch, leaving me alone in the cold.

Who else would protect me?

Who else would want to be protected by me?

No one else but her.

This war... now I've come to hate it.

It took away my parents, the innocents, the belligerents, and then her.

This is no mere Pyrrhic victory.

I choose to be forgotten from the pages of history if my ultimate victory is met with an equally ultimate loss.

Only then... can I be with her, and my parents who brought me to this world because of love.

I'm sorry, Lym. Do your best in my absence.

These cold mountains, unknown to many, will be my final resting place.

Farewell...

* * *

I am only known by the name of the Descender of Terresia.

Though fresh from being born from the World Tree, I know all too well what my duty is: to protect this world and to see it nourish.

Until this girl came.

Over the course of my adventure with her, the flower of love inside me was nurtured and grew, like the blossom she cherished the most.

But no matter how strong my love was, it could never reach her.

Because I hesitated.

I was too preoccupied with my original duty... that I forgot to keep track of that flower inside me.

And when the revelation came that she was a Descender like me, but was too desperate to restore her world to what it was that she had to sell herself to that dark entity... the flower was already in full bloom.

Yes, I fought her.

Because if not, she would be left in the darkness of the depths of her heart forever.

And I triumphed.

That victory was bittersweet.

Because I hesitated again.

The climax... the apex of my feelings for her... I still ignored it!

Stupid, stupid me!

I let it wilt!

And now that the dark entity is defeated and Terresia is at peace, we had parted ways.

As I lay on the base of the World Tree that gave birth to me and is now ready to accept me as my mission is accomplished, I thought...

Even with my powers, I'm not omnipotent... I'm just a normal human. I've committed a sin of omission... omission of confession of feelings to her.

My true words would never reach her, my true self would remain unknown to her.

Even if we're reborn... I doubt she would love me again.

You only live once, right?

And both of us do.

Farewell...

* * *

I am Vayne Aurelius, a graduate of Al-Revis Academy and now a practicing doctor.

Ever since I've met her and knew of her dark facade behind her cheery one, I've made a promise... no, a guarantee... that I will cure her.

That dark facade was her acceptance of her early mortality, brought about by the mistreatment by my father that rid her of her disease but also shaved her expected lifespan which brought him insanity and his desire to end his then-ruined life.

I've done everything I can to save her, even at the point where I voluntarily threw away my Mana powers - but she didn't change that facade.

I've even confessed my love to her - but she didn't change that facade.

I guess... some people can be too stubborn, right?

If she was stubborn, then so was I.

And five years after we graduated, after she promised to see me the next day...

The next day... she passed away.

Even though I knew of that possibility, it was still a great shock to me.

I really didn't want to lose her, in all honesty. We could marry and raise a healthy family, but no...

Am I really cursed to be this weak-willed? Just because I was the Mana of Wishes? Maybe if I should've learned sooner of who I really was... she would still be alive...

And so, to make amends for the inadequate amount of will I had when she was alive, I wasted away the rest of my years as a roaming doctor, hoping that at the end of my life journey... I will see her again... and savor her again.

Farewell...

* * *

No... it's too late now... if applied at the wrong place and the wrong time... the power of love... will have no effect on all of us... #


End file.
